Existence of positive solutions for BVPs of fourth-order difference equations (Q1855811)

The authors consider the boundary value problem (BVP) \[ \Delta^4x(t-2)= \lambda a(t)f\bigl(t,x(t) \bigr), \] \[ x(0)=x(T+2)= \Delta^2x(0)= \Delta^2x(T)= 0,\;2\leq t\leq T\text{ and }T\geq 6. \] Under the conditions \(f\) increasing in \(x\) and continuous in both arguments, \(f(t,0)>0\) and \(a(t)\geq 0\) there exists a \(\lambda_0\geq 0\) such that the BVP has at least one positive solution for \(0\leq\lambda \leq\lambda_0\). If, moreover, \(f(t,x)\geq dx\) for some \(d>0\) then there is no solution for \(\lambda> \lambda_0\). Reviewer's remark: The case where \(a(t)\) vanishes identically must be excluded in the last assertion.